Tuesday, April 8, 2008

“I think a lot of people assume that might be some sort of military thing to make me look more commander in chief-like. Ironically, this is an area — foreign policy is the area where I am probably most confident that I know more and understand the world better than Senator Clinton or Senator McCain,” Obama reportedly said.

It is extremely dangerous, politically speaking, to assert that one has more experience than someone else, especially when that someone else has five and a half years as a prisoner of war in his experience bank. But we'll leave that aside for now, if for no other reason than it is so painfully obvious.

The real reaction came from Hillary Clinton, who told reporters that she was "somewhat shocked by that since I don't see any evidence of it." She continued:

“This is, you know, kind of hard to square with (Obama's) failure ever to have a single policy hearing on the only responsibility he was given, chairing the European and NATO subcommittee on the Foreign Relations Committee.

“And as he admitted in the last debate, he was too busy running for president to pay attention to what we needed to do to improve our chances in Afghanistan and get NATO more involved. So, you know, I, I, I don’t, I don’t know, I’m speechless. I mean, you know, making an assertion like that belies the facts and the record.”

And if there's anyone who understands assertions that belie the facts and the record, it's Hillary Clinton. Fresh off of the I-was-almost-shot-to-death-by-a-sniper-in-Bosnia flap, Clinton came under figurative fire again this weekend, this time for a story about "an uninsured pregnant woman who lost her baby and died herself after being denied care by an Ohio hospital because she could not come up with a $100 fee." After the hospital challenged the story's validity, Clinton's campaign reluctantly admitted that it did not factcheck it before Clinton began telling it on the stump, and Clinton dropped it from her speech.

Hillary Clinton, speechless? All evidence to the contrary. But when it comes to stories and statements made off the cuff, Obama and his primary opponent are kindred spirits.